Reading Response February 8

Malcom X Summary
In his article, Learning to Read, Malcolm X explains how he learned more about writing and reading while he was in prison. He discovered his love for reading through extensive reading, starting with the dictionary, and moving on to much higher level books. Malcolm said he spent so much time reading because it was how he satisfied his curiosity. Starting as a boy with only an eight grade education, Malcolm shows how he evolved into a great speaker, reader, and writer.

1. Malcolm X's intended audience is students or children raised in lower class families, who had similar educations and lived in rough cities, like he did. His article is written in a motivational style.
2. He defines literacy as being able to read and understand. School-based literacy is being able to read and comprehend it for the upcoming test, but I think in each definition you still have to understand what you are reading.
3. Mr. Muhammad, Norfolk Prison Colony Library, correspondence, visitors, books, and civil rights. Mr. Muhammad and the history of civil rights were the most influential because they showed him how the white men had written history books and simply left the black man out.
4. I think this was a case for Malcolm X because after his only eight years of schooling there was definitely an ideological control surrounding his reading and writing.
6. I have never had a huge interest in reading throughout high school or the first year of college so far. I think the only motivation I had growing up was to be active in sports or spend time outside and this is what caused me to not read as much as I should have.

AEI
I think technologies have changed what it means to be literate in the U.S. today in a negative way because text messaging causes people to start using poor grammar and the Internet has many distractions as well as quick access to answers, which allow people to read less.

Response
I really enjoyed reading this article and thought it was a lot more interesting than the other articles in this chapter. Malcolm X did a great job at writing his article with that motivational perspective and it gave me a reason to want to read more in the future.

Alexie Summary
In his article, The Joy of Reading and Writing: Superman and Me, Sherman Alexie shows his readers how he taught himself, a Spokan Indian living on the reservation, how to read through Superman Comics. He did not go to a highly literate schooling system on the reservation and had to teach himself how to read. He had his father to look up to as an influence though because he was an active reader that bought many books from Goodwill and the Salvation Army.

1. When I was in elementary school, my brother would often read Harry Potter books into the wee hours of the night. This was a positive expectation for me because my parents expected me to read like he did and it gave me motivation to gain an interest in reading.

AEI
They did make me believe that anyone can overcome poverty and discrimination as long as they have that determination to read and write. Deborah Brandt's research showed me that even though the stats demonstrate how poor students don't have the same motivation as most children, they can still overcome this by having a good literacy sponsor to teach them.

Response
I really enjoyed this article too because it showed how poorly educated children can overcome their rough lives by reading and finding that interests in education, rather than not paying attention in school and not even bringing writing utensils to class. I can't really relate to this situation, but I think it will help many other students if they chose to read this article.